The prevention and control of inflammation is of prime importance to man, and much research has been devoted to development of compounds having anti-inflammatory properties. Certain methods and chemical compositions have been developed which aid in inhibiting or controlling inflammation, but additional methods and anti-inflammatory compositions are needed.
It has been found that some natural products and organisms are potential sources for chemical molecules having useful biological activity of great diversity. Marine sponges have proved to be such a source, and a number of publications have issued disclosing organic compounds derived from marine sponges. Such publications include Scheuer, P. J., Ed. (1978-1983) Marine Natural Products, Chemical and Biological Perspectives, Academic Press, New York; Faulkner, D. J. (1984) Natural Products Reports 1:551-598; Faulkner, D. J. (1986) Natural Products Reports 3:1-33; Faulkner, D. J. (1987) Natural Products Reports 4:539-576; Uemura, D., K. Takahashi, T. Yamamoto, C. Katayama, J. Tanaka, Y. Okumura, Y. Hirata (1985) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 107:4796-4798.
Indole compounds of marine origin have also been described in Moquin, C., M. Guyot (1984) Tetrahedron Letters 25(44):5047-5048 and Norton, R. S., R. J. Wells (1982) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 104(13):3628-3635.
Utilizing sponges as a source material and supplemented by novel synthetic production methods, new classes of biologically active compounds and new pharmaceutical compositions useful as antitumor and antiviral agents have been provided to the art. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,866,084, 4,895,844, and 4,970,266. The present invention provides a novel utility for these and related compounds, namely as anti-inflammatory compositions.
Other advantages and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed descriptions given herein; it should be understood, however, that the detailed descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent from such descriptions.